For the first hour or so this is excellent. I loved all the material that was set in the hotel and most of what was going on was darkly hilarious. This is a visually gorgeous movie as well which works in its favor. But it runs out of ideas at the midway point and I found the second half (set mostly in the woods) to be a complete pretentious bore. It really starts to drag and by the end I couldn't wait for it to be over. The performances are all strong though, particularly Colin Farrell who is fantastic. C+

The Lobster had me in it's claws for about two thirds of it's running time with it's D-Lynchious atmosphere, but lamentably I had slipped loose of it's grip by the finale. *B*

In the grim near future of The Lobster, failure to find a romantic partner within a certain amount of time is punishable by transformation into an animal of your choice. As the film opens, freshly divorced David (Colin Farrell) is sent to a hotel for single people whose deadline is nearing. He will either find love or live the rest of his life as a lobster; extra homo-sapiens time is earned by hunting and tranquilizing "loners," people who previously fled this dystopia to live in the forest. This curious world and it rules are expertly laid out during The Lobster's masterful first hour, a note-perfect fusion of the brutal, the detached, and the whimsical (case in point: a lisping single man played by John C. Reilly receives an almost casual hand-in-toaster punishment for masturbating). It is rare to find a film so adept at mining hilarity from extreme discomfort, and a portly, wistful Farrell completely inhabits his Arthur Dent-esque reluctant hero. The film unfortunately loses steam and focus to a degree in its second half, which finds David himself fleeing into the forest only to discover a reverse system of control where any romantic gesture is discouraged or violently punished. These scenes are not poor by any means—they still amuse and sting—but the pace becomes notably more lax, and the introduction of a genuine romance (with an escapee played by Rachel Weisz) is slightly stunted or at least obfuscated by the film's blunt-force, corpse-on-ice brand of deadpan.

B+

Ben Whishaw deserves a mention in your review, I loved his part.

Never would have thought that I'd actually like the movie more than you did. I thought it was a real gem.

Yes, Whishaw is terrific, as is Olivia Colman. Another plus of the hotel-set first hour.

Loved the first half as well. I don't really get the ending - I assumed it was an intentional vagueness. Maybe I misread something.

Ferrell's attempted appeals to the heartless woman were hilarious.

Loved, loved, LOVED this. It's a pitch perfect rumination on coupling in the modern age, and really makes terrific, icy satire on the societal pressures of the dating world. I wish more films were this creative and took this many risks. The first half of the film is incredibly darkly funny at points, and then the second half takes a more meditative approach. Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz are both superb, Farrell somehow making his purposeful blandness jump off the screen. A

It's crab.

I agree with this very much.

I'm actually surprised how much I loved this movie. I wasn't looking forward to it much as I found the trailer to be a bit annoying but I was very quickly won over. Colin Farrell was wonderful, Rachel Weisz was FANTASTIC. I loved the first scene where they were at the parents house and Farrell was going on about how in love with her she was, that was some seriously wonderful acting on her part. It was disturbing, darkly funny and thought provoking and easily one of the best movies of the year.

A

Some of the gallows humor in this movie is so on point.

Namely "I believe we are a match" when Heartless Woman feigns choking.

I'm surprised this is catching on at the box office. It's so odd. When I saw it last year I definitely didn't see people connecting with it.

I saw it today with a friend and there were three other people in the theater. Really expected my friend and I to be alone when it ended but we weren't. The film is incredibly odd and I wouldn't have expected it to do well either.

That being said, I mostly thought it was great. Seriously loved the first hour or so. It was hilarious and clever. I pretty much agree with David's assessment. I didn't hate the second half. It's fine and interesting. Just didn't like it as much as the first hour. It didn't start to drag though until towards the end.

Even with a weaker second half the film is still shocking, often hilarious, and wholly original. I preferred the director's brilliant Oscar-nominated film "Dogtooth," but "The Lobster" is well-worth watching if you're a fan of absurdist humor.

B+

i'm a fan!

Perhaps falls just short of a masterpiece, but a very interesting film that along with Don Jon, I would call one of the most interesting attempts yet to take the fear that going forward in the 21st century the ability for humans to emotionally connect is endangered the more plugged in they become. In addition to the ending I found little details to be fascinating such as the short sighted woman saying "Why didn't you blind him instead?" bringing up the chance they didn't have some perfect love (and that she wanted him to go blind for her later helps supports this), that for all her other brutal leadership decisions the french woman in the woods still greeted people with a hug, that we didn't see whether the bloody nose relationship ends after his lie is revealed bringing up the hopeful possibility that they broke out of the box of rules, nor did we ever find out what animal Ben Winshaw wants to be, that the woman who tried to kill herself by jumping but didn't die was forced into by the screaming pain one of the only real emotions in the film, that the maid lets herself get stabbed in place of the forest leader because she doesn't have the skills to question what a master asks of her even if it means dying, the inanity of acting like a year is too long to learn German but cutting one's eyes out is a better idea, etc.

I thought this was terrific.

Jesus, man, that's one sentence. Use more periods, dude.

Wow this was obnoxious. But that's ok, ya'll recommend enough good stuff to make up for the occasional nonsense like this.

The Lobster

Interesting film. I applaud the devotion to its theme, but I found it too awkward, strange, and a bit pretentious. It is also darkly funny, which gave me a few unexpected laughs at times. Overall, just not really too impressed. I expected more considering its reception elsewhere.

B-

I saw this a second time this past winter and would probably bump my rating up to an A-.